


Enchantments and Seals

by KlixAndSpaesis



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Death, Demonstuck, F/F, F/M, M/M, Magic, The trolls are demons, the kids are demon hunters
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-12-30
Updated: 2014-12-30
Packaged: 2018-03-04 09:29:40
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 17,170
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3062705
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KlixAndSpaesis/pseuds/KlixAndSpaesis
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In the beginning, there were three worlds, there was Skaia, the land above the clouds where heroes were laid to rest, there was Alternia, the land below the earth's very core where demons roamed the dry hard grey earth, then there was the land in between, split between dark and light, Derse and Prospit stood on either side of the land, and in the middle-Can Town.</p><p>In the beginning, there were four children exterminating a demon, something goes terribly awry, and death ensues. Wait, wait, did I say death? Did I put death as a tag? Did I also put Major Character Death as a tag? Yes, it seems I did.</p><p>Prepare yourselves, your author is going to be as evil as fuck. >: ]</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Beginning of the End

**Author's Note:**

> Well, I suppose youu peeps prolly might've just clicked on this fic just for the heck of it, or you saw a particularly interesting relationship tag and you thought, "Well, at least that was there." 
> 
> But no. I told you. I am evil. I will be evil. I would love to be evil. 
> 
> You have been warned readers. *wink wonk

Four figures blurred and slowly came into focus, at first they were hazy silhouettes that were blurred against the rain, then they slowly began to take shape, of four children, soaked with rain. That is, except one, who was happily wearing his ever present yellow raincoat.

“Ha!” the yellow raincoat said, swiveling around and practically danced in the rain, “I told you it would rain.”

Another figure grumbled, “You ALWAYS say that the rain's coming Casey, so shut the fuck up.”

Casey stuck out his tongue, hazel brown eyes glittering with mirth from behind the shadow of his raincoat’s hood and a jungle of brown hair. From afar, he would’ve looked like a large yellow lizard, the raincoat had a tail and large glassy brown eyes at the top of the hood, impersonating eyes and of course he had to complete the picture with yellow wellington boots, which he happily splashed around with, knowingly covering his companions with more rain water. “You could’ve at least brought an umbrella Jasper.” He teased the black haired boy, who glowered at him from beneath the heavy rainfall, once spiky black hair clinging to his scalp and his dark purple irises glinted dangerously, “Just shut up Casey. You’re so annoying at times like these.”

“How about both of you shutting up? Your argument isn’t going to help us find it, and it isn’t improving the mood.” Another annoyed voice came into the argument, cutting Casey short. The boy looked similar to Jasper, dark hair and clothing, though more casual, the only difference was that he had black irises and deathly pale skin. His appearance was quite similar to that of a dead persons and his scowl wasn’t really helping the imagery of his features. “Just keep quiet. All of you.” Said another voice, cutting the argument short with a steely glare from the tallest of the boys, his grey eyes flashing angrily, “Casey, erect a bubble around us and stop the rain. No complaints.” Casey began to protest but with a sharp “Now.” He took out a common bubble blower and began to blow, and blow, and blow until a large bubble was encasing the four children in a myriad of rainbow colors swirling around and deflecting the rain, Casey in the center, holding his hands splayed above his head and whispering enchantments under his breath. Immediately, the sound of the rain was dulled to a low muffle and the three who’d suffered through the rain were drying themselves off, removing clothing and squeezing them dry on the floor. Parcel shook his white hair wildly, spraying everyone with water, and they all grimaced before wiping their faces clean of the splashed water. “That’s better.” Crow said, rolling his shoulders and getting a satisfying crack and he tossed on his slightly damp black t-shirt, “Why didn’t you ask him to do this earlier Parcel?” Jasper asked annoyed, as he readjusted his bowtie and slung his black vest and scarf over his arm. “Because you guys are annoying.” He replied casually, flinging out his grey hoodie, “and don’t call me by my name, it’s annoying.”

“Everything is annoying to you, Parcel _Mistress_.” Casey teased, deliberately stressing on the last name as the white haired boy was clearly male. “Shut up.” was the curt reply as the boy glared him down. Then he walked forwards, the little bubble shield following him as Casey followed him with a large grin on his face. “There.” PM pointed towards the small black critter that was tearing into the flesh of a rabbit, the animal having already been dead for more than an hour. The rain washed the blood from its fur, soaking it into the soil around it and splashing it onto the dark furred squirrel next to it, its eyes glowing an unnatural yellow as it ravaged the bloody flesh with sharp, canine teeth. A demon. “The squirrel’s most likely possessed,” PM continued in a low whisper as they huddled behind a bush, still a glossy green from the recent rain shower, the squirrel’s tail was rotting at an incredible rate though, fur falling off in broken clumps of flesh, exposing a startling contrast of white bone, which was already decaying to dust under the heavy rain, “We’d better get it before it leaves it’s ‘container’. Jasper, are you ready?” The boy nodded and splayed his hand in front of him, and a slight purplish glow emitted from his fingertips as he muttered under his breath. Immediately, his scarf rose and writhed sharply around his shoulders, glowing the same pale purple as the boy manipulated its movements. Slowly the scarf settled to the ground and snaked towards the demon silently, and when it was right behind it, the edges fanned out and grabbed it in whipcord like movement, fast as lightning. The demon was caught, struggling, in a ball of wool then it went still. Crow breathed out, “at least we didn’t have to summon anything THIS time.”

Last time Crow and PM had summoned their demons, Jack Noir had constantly clung onto PM’s shoulder squealing like a mad fan girl and had attempted to kill the rest of the team’s members behind his back. Except that THAT happened every, single, time Jack Noir was summoned. He would fawn over PM and give the other kids dirty looks, it was strange really, because Jack looked exactly like PM, except he had black hair, black clothing, black wings, black sword, in fact, he was entirely black except for his grey skin and yellow eyes, as was the attributes of a demon. PM was one of the youngest people alive who could control a demon as large as himself, but he wasn’t the first to have it become possessive over him. Most demons became that way after becoming owned by their caster, they would show vast amounts of affection towards them and would protect them at any cost, because they loved them to death.

***

I believe I'm confusing some of you. Let’s start from the beginning (Do you guys like History? I love History). From the beginning of time, there were three worlds, first was the world where all living beings resided and it was split into three lands, Derse, Prospit, and in the middle, Can Town. Derse was a land where the sun’s rays were the hardest to see, and there were always heavy clouds hanging above the Dersite air like fog. Derse was famous for its forests and vast expanses of lush greenery and rocky, mountainous areas which were popular amongst Dersians and Prospitians alike. The people were friendly and interactive, but they were pale and slightly intimidating, though they made lifelong friends and were powerful casters of magic.

Prospit was the land where the sun shined the brightest, reflecting off marble white cliffs that surrounded the multiple village areas that crowded close to the sea, on the contrary to Derse, where the buildings hid closer inland. Prospit was a main producer for sea trinkets or fish importing, as the villages were close to the sea, and it was also popular in the sightseeing department as there were large, dormant volcanoes surrounding the area. Prospitians were also quite friendly, cheerful and were very active, usually doing errands or shopping, always making the streets bustling with people. Derse was similar, though it was quieter and less active. Both lands were separated by a large expanse of sea and they were connected by a bridge.And in the middle of the bridge, was Can Town.

Can Town was a city for students and teachers, and it stood proudly between the two lands with its tall buildings and shops, it was almost like any normal city, though its occupants were normally teenagers. And they were all demon hunters. Yeah, that’s a thing. All children and adults born on both Derse and Prospit had unique powers to dispel demons and many often have more than one skill. There are two titles, and it wasn’t rare for a child or an adult to have both. The first title is a Caster. A Caster can use magic to control or manipulate inanimate objects of any kind, though the objects vary amongst casters depending on which item they hold strong feelings for. Casters are also largely infamous for using objects as a ‘medium’ to transfer magic from their body into the real world in the form of concentrated balls of magic or as lasers and lightning. The second title is a Summoner. Summoners summon demons from the world of demons, Alternia, which we will delve into later, or they summon divine elements or objects. However, the demon has to have been already tamed by the Summoner otherwise they will suffer a large toll on their bodies. Unfortunately, the Summoner can only control one demon in his/her lifetime as controlling two demons would cause discord amongst the two as demons are temperamental and can’t stand each other. Summoners which control demons with wings usually gain the ability to sprout wings as well, enabling the user to fly. The ones that control human-like demons usually have to share an appendage with the demon as the demon usually has to lose a limb during its taming, thus, the user is subjected to having their limb being given to the demon when it is summoned.

The second world was the world of demons- Alternia, a large grey land filled with an unforgiving harsh terrain which is usually mountainous and desert-like with no water. Unlike on Prospit, Derse or Can town, the times are drastically different as for a majority of the ‘day’, it is usually as dark as night, and at ‘night’ the sun comes out. The sun in Alternia is actually very close to the land, making it very hot and uncomfortable to move around during the time it is out (Did I mention that its heat could burn the flesh of your bones? No? Well now you know). Thus, a great many of Alternia’s inhabitants are nocturnal and live underground. Alternia also has many, different loops and tears in its atmosphere, these holes leading to different planets. The inhabitants of Alternia vary in shapes, sizes and forms. The weaker kinds frequently possess objects or small animals of the real world when they escape, but as they feed on blood, using the animal, they quickly become stronger and are often found evolving to a second or third stage within an hour or two of entering the real world. The stronger ones possess larger animals, such as children or apes, and the much, much stronger ones possess full grown humans and have very powerful influences over the atmosphere. Demons are very violent, especially amongst their own kind and are regularly found at each other’s necks. When a demon is tamed, they become extremely docile, tame and dangerously affectionate with their summoner, to the extent that they will prevent anyone else from touching them, and that is why the demon is given a controller, in the form of a mark or an item such as a collar, necklace, bracelet, anklet, as long as it is on any part of its body, it will not be allowed to touch any other human without their permission and the summoner’s. Humanoid demons that are tamed (believe me when they are, it isn’t pretty. Lots of screaming and cursing and blood and flailing limbs) will lose a limb in the process, generally an arm or a leg, and the summoner will have to share the appendage with the demon. (Fun Fact: Demons always have grey skin [in the humanoid cases] or are completely black [animal cases] and they have sharp canine teeth and yellow irises. They bleed a thick black oily substance except for the humanoid ones- they bleed varying colours of the colour spectrum. Also, the demons have given names.)

The last world was called Skaia, the world of the dead. Souls of the dead go there when a person has died a heroic death (or a hero’s death) and are reincarnated in the next few millennia (ha ha it must be so fun up there). Skaia exists beyond the clouds of Derse and Prospit, and according to a lady who had escaped death said that Skaia was barren and empty, save for a few souls of the dead walking around, once in awhile stopping next to one another and whispering to each other quietly before drifting away. Skaia is legendary for its holy elements and weapons, and very rarely is a summoner able to summon a holy item from Skaia and control a demon at the same time.

***

The woolen ball suddenly twitched to life and Jasper broke out into sweat, using both hands now to contain the demon inside the scarf, he was biting his lip hard and a thin trail of blood started flowing from his mouth. The other three boys were quiet, they knew Jasper needed all the concentration right now to summon his demon, no matter how small it was. Under his breath Jasper gritted out the chant, “Come to me my demon beast, aid me, and you will feast, upon my flesh and lifeblood.” The drop of blood dropped from his chin and hung in the air, spinning for a moment like a glittering ruby before it vanished and a black cat with a red scarf around its neck tore from the ground, yellow eyes gleaming mischievously and it sat before Jasper and mewed a greeting as it rubbed against his calf affectionately, “You haven’t called me in sooooo long master! I missed you! Are you having trouble?” It took his silence and his furrowed brow as a yes and it continued, flirtatiously brushing its tail under his chin, “Don’t worry Master,” it purred, “I can take care of it,” it turned a look of disgust in the other boys, “unlike your useless members, I’m so much more useful!” It darted forwards and yowled, its claws extending as it slashed the ball to ribbons, but it was too late. Black butterfly wings erupted from the scarf and it tore to pieces, revealing the rapidly evolving demon inside. The wings were beautiful, black swirls decorated and outlined a shimmering dark see through grey wings, they had the consistency of a freshly pupated butterfly, which was exactly what it was. The squirrel was writhing, bleeding its black blood as the wings flapped ferociously, trying to separate the demon from its now useless container. There was a drawn out hiss as the demon started clawing its way out of the squirrel’s body, first a ridged back followed the black wings, peeling out of the small body with a sickening sound of something squelching and the wet sucking noise of thick liquids. PM swore loudly and splayed his hand at his side, immediately a circle of pale yellow grew from his palm, slowly forming a sword of light. A sword from the world of Skaia. The sword quickly became a white blade with a grey and white banded handle and PM gripped it in his hand and stood, readying himself into a fighting stance. Crow stood as well and splayed his hand in front of him, muttering something quickly under his breath and from behind him, a large black circle appeared and black wings exploded from his back and thousands of crows started flapping from the circle, cawing loudly. That’s when the top half of the body tore itself from the squirrel, it was vaguely human, dark grey skin with taloned fingers, a wave of sharp spiky hair falling around its shoulders, a pair of antennae bobbing above its head. Then it turned, a wicked smile on its face from behind black lips, yellow eyes flashing sharply, “Hello boys.” Jasper’s cat leapt forwards, claws extended, and the demon swatted it away, the cat disappeared in a burst of blue flame and Jasper collapsed onto the ground in dead faint, sweat decorating his brow. “I hate cats-“ it seethed right before Crow darted forwards, the demon crows right behind him, and he clashed with the demon. It licked its lips and gazed down into Crows black eyes, “Eager aren’t we?” it purred. Then it shoved him away and Crow grunted, flapping his wings hard to prevent himself from falling and he soared up into the air at a safe distance and the crows dive bombed towards the demon, cawing loudly as they pecked and clawed its eyes and available flesh. The demon screeched and flailed, unable to move freely due to its bottom half still being stuck inside of the squirrel, and it flapped its wings hard, creating small gusts of wind that batted the crows away, some of them even bursting into miniature patches of blue flame as their wings were buffeted by the winds. PM charged forwards, holding his sword at his side and amidst the confusion and feathers, he lobbed off the demon’s left arm and wing with a quick downward swipe of his sword and he spun backwards, out of the demon’s reach. The demon screamed in agony, spraying grey blood, and lashed out with its right arm just as Crow swooped downwards and thwacked it over the head with his large five-foot long wingspan and flew away into the sky. The demon screeched again and Casey quickly blew another bubble, and it hung in the air in front of him as he ghosted his hands slightly over its exterior and the bubble turned a frosty white colour, a mischievous smile on his face as he splayed his hand in front of it and sent it shooting forwards at a pace much faster than a normal bubble’s. It whizzed towards the demon and exploded against its chest, releasing the gas within and the demon instantly turned the colour of white and froze in place, turning into a gruesome statue of ice.

PM stepped back, putting his hands on his hips and observed the statue, breathing out a sigh of relief. The crows settled down on the statue’s head and arm, cooing softly, and Crow alighted the ground next to Jasper and rolled him over, checking if their companion was still alive after his strain over controlling a demon and manipulating his scarf at the same time. Casey popped the large bubble around himself and Jasper, letting rain splash against Jasper’s face and on his rain coat, and he let out shaky laughter, showing how tired he was, “Well, that happened.” Jasper fluttered open his eyes and coughed violently, nearly hitting Crow with his forehead as he sat up quickly to double over and retch. Crow made a ‘ewww’ face but helpfully patted and rubbed Jasper’s back until the fit was over. “He’s alive.” He called over his shoulder to PM, who still hadn’t moved and was still watching the statue closely, until, “Shit.” PM stepped away from the statue which had begun to steam and the crows flapped away from it with startled caws. The demon was still alive. Crow let out a consecutive swear, followed by Casey, who sensed his magic crippling. “Jack!” PM called out, raising his sword and stabbing himself in the chest, “Come to me!” White wings ripped from PM’s back and simultaneously from his wing’s shadow, another boy stepped out.

The boy looked exactly like PM, except that he was all dark colours whereas PM was the complete opposite. The boy had the typical grey skin of demons and the typical dark clothing of one, instead of white wings protruding from his back, he had black ones, as dark as shadows. Instead of grey, serious eyes, they were replaced by yellow irises sparkling with glee and in contrast to PM’s constant straight line of a mouth, his was set in a large grin, showing off sharp dog-like teeth in a wicked smile. There was a purple banded collar around his neck with a tattered red and yellow cloth hanging onto it. In an instant, he was clinging to PM, pressing against him from behind in a warm, albeit awkward cuddle as he nuzzled his shoulder, “ Hello PM,” he cooed into the other boy’s nape, “Did you miss me?” PM responded with a sharp, “Fuck no. I call you for a reason, and that’s to help me fight. We can do without your clingy nature Jack.” Jack smiled and sat up, “Yes master, but it seems you’ve forgotten something?” Jack held out his armless shoulders, waggling them to emphasize his point. PM sighed and slid the sword out of his chest with a wet schulck! And raised it above his shoulder and chopped off his left arm in a single swing, wincing only slightly as the limb fell to the ground. The other boys gagged and turned away, no matter how many times they’d seen PM stab himself in the chest and lob off his left arm, they could never get used to the fact that he did it with such practiced ease. PM picked up his arm and handed it to Jack, “Here, take it.” Jack squealed and held out his left shoulder for PM to attach his arm to. As soon as the arm was within a couple of feet, black threads extended from Jack’s shoulder and started piercing the severed edge of the arm, sewing it to Jack’s shoulder and the limb started turning darker until it was a pale grey, slightly lighter than Jack’s skin colour. The demon boy sighed happily and caressed the arm to his chest, cooing, “I love this part of our deal.”

“Whatever, we need to fight.”

“Yes Master.” Jack proceeded to hold his hand over his own chest, and slowly, exactly where PM had stabbed himself, the black hilt of a sword started to emerge. With a quick flick of his wrist, Jack whipped a shining black cutlass from his chest, spraying dark red blood as he swung it around. The blade had the consistency of polished obsidian, smooth, sharp, and deadly. On an occasion out of curiosity, PM had asked what the sword was, but Jack had smiled and put a finger to his black lips and shook his head. Calling it a ‘secret’ but he said the blade’s name was ‘Regisword’, but he said no more than that.

The demon behind them hissed out a breath of steam as it came back to life, cracking its neck on its shoulders and grinning widely. Casey shuddered and nearly collapsed as his magic was broken, but he held out a hand to steady himself, stopping his fall and with an almost imperceptible nod from PM, started blowing out bubbles again, this time holding two fingers in front of the circle, and each bubble became transparent. Casey removed his hood, exposing dark brown hair to the rain, and jutted out his palms, then swung them together, crossing one arm over the other and started chanting in a hushed whisper. Jasper was the first to catch on and immediately did the same, his bowtie unraveling and spread behind him, writhing and convulsing like a snake, and he imitated Casey’s movements, also beginning to chant under his breath. Crow took the centre of the duo and slammed both fists on the ground, spreading his wings out to their full span and started up a different chant, weaving it in-between the two other boys. PM and Jack stood back to back, wing to wing and pointed their swords at the demon’s chest, who’d begun to wail and clutch it’s head, being somehow affected by the quiet whisperings of the boys. (Fun Fact Girls and Boys! Casey is actually using his bubbles to transfer the sound by simply letting their sound travel through the bubbles using Jasper’s string! The string threads through the bubbles and creates an odd sort of telecommunication device. Remember those cups you might have used as telephones in your childhood? This is quite similar.) PM and Jack darted different ways and took turns in dodging beneath the demon’s crazy flailing and adding cuts and slashes across it’s torso.

Then they began to change. Slowly, both of their noses and mouths started elongating into snouts and tufts of fur started sprouting from their faces, PM’s fur was white while Jack’s were black, until both boy’s heads resembled a wolf’s. Together they pointed their snouts to the sky and howled, adding more pain to the current demon’s suffering. It screamed and collapsed, clawing at its ears and eyes before it finally went limp and its head lolled to the side.

PM and Jack walked over to where the demon was, cautiously, holding their swords in front of them as they approached it. The other boy’s ceased their chanting and Crows wings started to fold into themselves, collapsing and shedding feathers before they were gone. Jasper’s bow tie fluttered to the ground and Casey looked up, pale, as the strain caught up to him and he breathed out a ragged breath. Jack and PM’s faces gradually became more human as the fur fell away to reveal pale and grey skin. That’s when the demon lunged out and grabbed PM’s neck in a throat- choking hold. Jack didn’t even hesitate as he lopped off the demon’s head and it fell with a thunk on the ground. But the head started laughing maniacally even as it started to burn in the blue flame, it’s body following suit. It turned its eyes to Jack, it’s body still holding PM’s throat, who was starting to gag, “Let me do you a favor, _Jack_.” The head was the first to burn away, then the body, the hand still holding PM’s neck in a death grip. PM’s struggled to pull the burning hand away from his neck, trying to pry the fingers away from his neck as quickly as possible. “Jack, help me!” he coughed, unsuccessfully tugging the limb with his right arm. Jack immediately started helping him, trying to pull it away. Then it happened. The Burning. As soon as the blue flames licked the skin of PM’s neck, a burst of purple flame threaded with brilliant yellows and reds ignited in a ring around PM’s neck. Jack was thrown back and PM screamed, clutching his throat as an all too familiar collar became visible around his throat and began to burn. Crow was already calling for help, dialing a number and speaking rapidly into it as Casey attempted to douse the fire, blowing bubbles and splashing them onto PM while Jasper tried to work his bow tie under the collar to tear it off, but their efforts were in vain as Jack’s collar ignited into a similar flame and he gave and ungodly roar of pain as it began to burn. Jack glanced at PM with a look of hopelessness as tears rolled down his face. It was clear that he was the cause of PM’s pain and he decided to end it, holding his sword to his throat and stabbing downwards. “PM’s link with Jack is Burning!” Crow could be heard speaking quickly into the phone, “Send help! And we need it fast there isn’t much time until-“ the line got cut off as the phone was impaled to a tree by a quivering black sword. PM had collapsed, his neck charred and smoldering, and Jack was shakily getting to his feet, his arm still held out where he’d thrown his sword at Crow. There was a stunned silence as Jack started to laugh. “Jack?” Jasper ventured carefully, holding his arms protectively above PM’s chest. Jack’s laughing stopped abruptly and he almost lazily turned towards him, “It’s Jack Noir to you, fucker.” It started to laugh again at the boys’ stunned expressions then splayed its hand in Crows direction, “Come to me Regisword.” And the sword flew to his hand and Jack Noir gripped its hilt with a crazed smile on his face as it turned towards the remaining boys, still stuck in stunned silence. “Time to die.”

***

By the time the rescue squad had arrived, it was already too late. All four boys were dead, having been stabbed in multiple places an innumerable number of times. Casey had been stabbed through the heart and gut, Crow had been decapitated, his wings in pieces around him, Jasper had been stabbed through the lungs and a long cut had been placed across his belly. PM had been slashed across the throat and impaled to a tree by his own sword through his chest, but the sword was already fading, returning to Skaia. It was clear that the boys had put up an incredible fight, there were scorch marks all over the slick grass, there were scratches all over the trees and some had been felled. A few chunks of earth had been thrown around due to numerous explosions and there were a great many black feathers scattered over the ground. There were the remnants of a taming circle having been set up, but it was destroyed. Jack Noir was nowhere to be seen.

A funeral service was set up for the four boys, their broken bodies had been put into black coffins and carried down the Dersite mountain and buried in their respected lands, Casey and PM in Prospit soil whereas Jasper and Crow in Dersite soil. The Mayor of Can town came personally to each of their funerals and bid them farewell and a safe journey to Skaia, where they would be reborn as heroes


	2. O death

“Happy Birthday son, you’re finally sixteen!” Mr. Egbert called out cheerfully as he opened the door to John’s room, cake in hand as he smoked his ever present pipe. John looked up from his computer screen, a skeptical look on his face, “Really Dad? What do you mean by ‘finally’? Were you planning on kicking me out?” he broke out into a grin at the end though, unable to keep the look of skeptism off his face, “Just kidding, thanks Dad.” He shut off his computer and walked over to his Dad and embraced him tightly, even though he was much too old for a hug, but it was his birthday, so nobody cared. His dad laughed and hugged John back with his free arm, holding the cake a little out of the way so it wouldn’t accidentally tip over and fall. “Come on, let’s go eat it at the table, we can’t really eat it here.” John grinned slyly and wrapped his body around his dad’s lower half, “Nope. Either we eat it here or you’re hopping to the dinner table.” His dad laughed and lowered the cake threateningly close to John’s face, “What’s stopping me from doing this?” he said as he waved the cake closely to John’s face and John fake pouted, pushing out his bottom lip and making puppy eyes at his dad, “Because it’s my birthday?” Mr. Egbert let out another hearty laugh and set the cake down on the floor and John scrambled off his father’s legs to sit on the ground and looked up at him hopefully, “Will Jane be here?” as his dad slowly sat down cross legged on the carpeted floor with a grunt, “She called a little earlier, saying she couldn’t come. And that some pressing matters called her elsewhere.” John made a face and Mr. Egbert sighed as he sat down, magically producing candles from his pocket and his lighter and he proceeded to stick the candles into the cake decorated with a blue wave and little dunes of whipped cream bordering the edges of the cake. As he lit the candles one by one with his lighter, John asked the most obvious question, “Hey Dad, where’s the knife?” His dad smiled as he lit the last one and moved to turn off the lights, “Who needs a knife John?” and a small tendril of smoke snaked from his pipe and brushed against Johns cheek, “When we have a portable knife right here?” John wrinkled his nose, “The cake will taste like smoke though.” His dad snorted and sat down again, gesturing towards John and the brightly flickering candles, “Make a wish John.” John leaned in and softly blew; creating a small gust of wind that ruffled his Dad’s hair and made a wish. That’s when his father’s phone rang, a chipper tune consisting of someone whistling ‘Windy Days’, the sound that John later came to fear and dread.

 

“Happy birthday Rose!” Mrs. Lalonde called out, appearing behind Rose and giving her a sloppy hug. Rose smiled and shut down her computer before turning around and returning the hug, “Thank you mother.” Her mom drew away, obviously upset as she held her daughter at arm’s length, “What will it take for you to just call me ‘mom’ or ‘mommy’ Rosie? I love you sooo much.” Then she leaned in and gave Rose a peck on the forehead and Rose happily leaned into it, closing her eyes and breathing in the bittersweet scent of the smell of wine that lingered on her mother’s clothes. “It would take the world mother.” Rose replied smiling as she tapped her forehead against her mother’s chest and listened to the soft _thump thump thump_ of her heart as it beat against her ribcage. Her mother leaned away and picked her up and Rose protested, but it was one of those times when her mother got exceptionally affectionate, so it didn’t matter. It didn’t matter that her mother was carrying her to the kitchen, all that mattered was that she was with her mother, together and laughing with her. Something they hadn’t done in a long, long time. Her mother set her down on the table and placed another chaste kiss on her forehead before moving off to the cupboards to grab two wine glasses and Rose’s cake. The cake was decorated like Rose’s namesake- with multiple pink and purple roses with green whipped cream serving as leaves and vines, wrapping around the pink cursive lettering that spelt out ‘Happy Birthday Rose Lalonde!’ Rose smiled and stuck in the candles that were hanging by the side of the cake dish in a small plastic bag, “Is Roxy coming home?” Her mother lit the candles one by one and turned off the lights, “Unfortunately not, she had a job to do that was urgent.” There was only the flickering glow of the candles as the warm yellow light reflected off of both faces captured in warm smiles. Then her mother gasped loudly, putting a hand to her mouth exclaiming “How could I have forgotten?” She gestured towards the empty wine glasses and they started to fill with red liquid as though they were being poured by an invisible wine bottle. She handed one full glass to Rose and Rose raised an eyebrow and took an experimental sniff, it smelt slightly fruity and a little like flowers, sweet, without the usual tang of bitterness. “Don’t worry, it isn’t poisoned.” Came her mother’s carefree voice from the other side of the table as she raised her glass in toast, lazily smiling as she leaned against her other arm against the table. Rose held out her glass, “Toast.”

“Happy Birthday Rosie.”

At the precise moment they clinked glasses together, her mother’s phone rang, an upbeat tune featuring the instrumental for the song ‘Light’s’ and her mother held it to her ear after a flicker of recognition crossed her face from the all too familiar song, “Hello? Lalonde residence.”

 

“Happy Birthday Jade!” Jade’s grandfather said as he walked in through the doorway with long confident strides. “How’s my little girl?” He lifted her up from her chair and she squealed when he swung her around, spinning her in circles around the room until she protested, laughing out loud, “Grandpa! I’m not little anymore!” Mr. Harley paused in mid swing and mumbled something that sounded like “Oh right.” Then he dropped her and she screamed as the ground rushed up to meet her but her fall was stopped by her grandpa swooping in and scooping her from her fall, and swinging her around in exaggerated manner in princess style. When he stopped swinging, he cradled her to his chest and kissed her forehead affectionately, “You will always be my little girl Jade.” She giggled and hugged him back, “Jake always says that to me to.”

Her grandfather feigned a look of shock, “What! Am I not the only grandfather in this house?!”

Jade laughed breezily but she didn’t answer. Both her brother and her grandfather posed as fatherly figures to her, always protecting her and giving her as much love as possible. “Come on,” her grandpa’s words interrupted her thoughts, “Let’s go get that cake Jade!” She let her grandfather carry her to the kitchen and all the time she was smiling widely, it was her sixteenth birthday and she was pretty sure that everyone else was having their birthdays at the same time, today was the day that everyone was turning sixteen. He plopped her on the table and reveled the cake to have been hiding underneath the table then he turned away and said, with a mysterious smile that he was going to go grab something then he stalked off and Jade watched him leave, slightly puzzled at what he was going to get and as she was sitting and waiting, her grandpa suddenly charged from the opposite room and held out his fingers in the shape of a pistol and pointed it at Jade’s head and said, “Bang.” Jade smiled and showed that she was holding up a similar hand position, except with one finger that was pointing towards his neck. “Bang.” She imitated and her grandfather laughed, “’Atta girl.” Then he walked over to the cake, decorated with a green pinwheel, candles decorating the cake’s surface and burning brightly. Once they sat down, Jade stared at the cake and a sad look crossed her face, “Jake won’t be here, huh?” Her Grandpa’s face darkened, “It must’ve been something serious to have him called away. Or it was his… extremely affectionate friend.”

“Never mind!” Jade said brightly, sitting straighter and pushing her bangs out of her face, “What present have you gotten for me Grandpa?” Jade’s Grandpa smiled and said, “Secret. Now make a wish Jade.” She leaned in and blew out the candles, making the room darken, and then her Grandfather’s phone began to ring loudly. He fumbled for it as he turned on the light’s and put it to his ear, “Hello?” Jade waited patiently at the table, watching her Grandfather’s face drop in pity as something was said over the phone and he said, “I understand, I’ll be coming over immediately.” He hung up and looked at Jade sadly, “I’m sorry Jade… But, something’s come up at work.” Jade smiled, “It’s okay Grandpa! Go do your job! It’s important right?” He started to say something but Jade pushed him to the doorway and jammed his hat on his head, “Good luck Grandpa! Come back soon!” she stood at the doorway and waved, smiling, and he looked at her uncertainly, “Are you sure Jade?” Jade nodded and waved goodbye as he straightened his hat. He looked back at her with something bridging on confusion and uncertainty, but he went into his car and started the engine. “I’ll come back home soon Jade!” he called out the window as he reversed in the driveway. Then he drove off, heading towards the Dersite mountains. Jade’s smile dropped as well as her wave and she walked back inside, and she stared at the empty kitchen, the blown out candles and the empty chairs. Then she buried her face in her hands and began to cry.

 

“Hey lil man, whaddya want for dinner? Take out or delivery?” Bro popped his head in through the door of Dave’s room at an awkward angle, suggesting that he was still sitting on his chair. A second head popped around the corner of the door frame, a couple of inches above Bro’s head and clacked its wooden mouth together as a slightly high pitched voice exited its mouth in a stage whisper, “I’d prefer take out.” Dave closed his computer screen and thought about it, “Take out.” He confirmed with a nod and got off his chair, carefully stepping over the wires that decorated his bedroom floor, he needed to put a carpet over them, it was a common safety hazard to have one too many wires hanging about. Bro nodded and said, “Right, get yer shades and we’ll be ready to go.” Then he pushed off from the doorframe and Dave could hear the clattering of the wheels as he rolled, supposedly towards his desk. The puppet head stayed around the corner, but it was lower this time, about four feet off the floor. Dave looked down at the possessed puppet and raised his hand in greeting, “Sup lil Cal?” Cal raised a gloved hand back in greeting and clacked his mouth together again and looking down, “How you are even supposed to answer greetings like that, I don’t know.”

“You’ve been living with the Strider’s for at least two generations, deal with it,” was Dave’s curt reply as he rummaged around his drawer for a spare pair of sunglasses. Cal had been around ever since Bro had been nineteen, Dirk had been three and Dave was one. Cal wasn’t the normal type of summon and come type of demons, he had actually once been a very powerful demon that had been on the rampage for a couple of weeks, Bro had gone there to subdue him. And subdue him he did, so much so that Cal had been forced to take refuge in the puppet that Bro always made a point to carry around to escape death. The least Cal could do from then on was talk and move slowly around with his glassy blue eyes and red puppet mouth. Since Cal wasn’t a summoned demon, he was friendly with anyone and everyone, but he did hold some sort of respect for Bro as Bro had been forced to ‘collar’ him in case he decided mutiny, so now Cal always had a gold chain around his neck with a medallion attached. He was four feet tall with long gangly limbs covered in orange felt material, a collared shirt and a black bow tie that was covered by a large blue shirt with white letterings spelling out ‘CAL’ in large capital letters. His hands were covered with white mitts and he was always wearing white and red sneakers. Dave was okay with him, as long as the puppet didn’t try to creep him out, which it did on daily basis. He fished out a pair of shades and fixed them to the bridge of his nose, Cal still watching him intently from the doorway, and he called out, “I’m ready to go.” And he walked out the door, resisting the urge to kick Cal on the way out because he was just _staring_ at him, not moving except for following him with his eyes. Instead he scooped Cal up and he flailed, “I can walk, idiot!” Dave rolled his eyes and tossed him at Bro, who caught the puppet without flinching and draped the puppet over his back, “Let’s go.”

By the time they were trudging back home, it was somewhat late afternoon, but the street lamps were already flickering on due to the thick clouds over the Dersian sky, creating a somewhat darkness over the town when Bro turned to Dave, who was just walking beside him, hands in pockets and full of spaghetti from the nearest shop. “Hey Dave, can you hold Cal fer a sec?” Cal snorted but allowed himself to be carried by Dave as he wasn’t allowed to walk around in the streets. They continued walking while Bro searched his pockets for something until he swore, “Damn, must’ve dropped it.” Dave stopped walking and raised an eyebrow above his shades in a questioning manner. Bro sighed and said with the straightest face, “Your birthday present, I dropped it.”

Cal straightened and Dave could almost hear the rapid, innocent blinking in his voice, “Well damn. What a bummer.” He patted Dave’s hair, “It’s okay kid, at least I’ve still got a present for you.” Then he leaned down close to Dave’s ear and whispered, “Here’s a word of warning Dave: Something’s gonna happen. Very, very soon.” Then he moved away as though he’d never said anything. Bro seemed to be thinking hard, then he looked up, confidence in his eyes. “I think I can recreate it for you.” He held out his hands and colourful strings started winding out of his palms, a mixture of reds and whites and black and yellows started winding together tightly forming a small figure. “If you’re giving me another smuppet like last time-“ Dave started but stopped when he saw what the colourful yarn was forming. It was a miniature figurine of him, aviator shades, blonde hair and god tier uniform. The last yellows finished winding at the top, forming the last of his hair and Bro tossed it at him, a smirk on his face as Dave caught it clumsily, still awed at his present. “Happy birthday squirt.”

“Happy b-day Dave!” Cal chimed in, wrapping his arms around Dave’s neck and swinging his legs wildly. Then Bro’s phone started ringing, it was an ordinary ringing, the familiar beeping that woke Dave up for school, but it filled Dave with dread when Bro picked it up, “Hello?” _Something’s going to happen. Very, very soon._

It was a normal day when the kids got the call, a perfectly normal day. The sun had been shining cheerfully over Can Town, not a single cloud in the sky as Rose, Jade, John and Dave sat together under a tree, simply talking about the mysterious disappearance of their guardians the day prior. They hadn’t returned. Not that it mattered, they had complete faith in them, they were all powerful Casters and Summoners, and besides, it wasn’t unnatural for them to disappear. That was until they got the phone call. Jade was the first to get it, a little ring from her phone. She cut her conversation with Rose short and picked up the phone, it was Jake.

“Hello? Jake? Where were you? We spent my birthday without you!”

But his voice didn’t have its usual cheerfulness in it, it was urgent, “Jade, You have to get to the hospital right now, it’s… It’s Grandpa. He’s-”

Jade froze, but she didn’t waste any time, she hung up quickly, ignoring the puzzled looks from her friends and she looked at them, worried, “Guys, I- I need to go to the hospital, it’s my Grandpa he-“

“We’ll come. Summon your fastest Hounds.” Was Rose’s reply, realization dawning on her face faster than the other’s. Jade immediately pounded the ground, summoning forth a large green circle; easily three feet in radius and four black hounds clawed their way out of the ground, yellow sclera glinting darkly under the afternoon sun. They stood majestically, as large as grown grizzly bears, shaking the dirt out of their black fur and nuzzling Jade’s toes, but they stopped when they sensed her worry. “We will take thee wherever thee wishes. Speak the destination mistress.” The largest hound growled into her ear, tickling her cheek with its whiskers. She whispered the destination and the request of carrying her friends along. The hound nodded and they climbed onto their backs and shot off in the direction of the hospital, leaping over buildings and awestruck students. It was about halfway there when John got the call, It was from Jane, his sister, “John, get to the hospital now, its Dad.” Her voice was deadly serious and had urgency in it and John hung up with a worried look on his face, Dave caught the glance and his mouth went into a grim line. If John’s dad was… then it was probable that Bro… No! He shook it out of his head and concentrated on gripping the dark fur below him tightly in his fists. His hopes died when he got the call next. It was Dirk. And Dirk never called, he only ever texted. Dave flicked his phone open, trying to hide the worrying frown spreading across his brows behind his shades. “Dave, you probably already got the call, but Bro’s… hurt.” The last word was said with disbelief and pain, Bro had never been hurt before. Rose didn’t even have to wait for her phone to ring before she was turning it on and clicking the ‘accept call’ button. It was Roxy, she didn’t even sound drunk, her tone sober and serious, “Rose, its Mom, she’s – she’s hurt and I – oh Gog, just get to the hospital Rosie, I-“ She could be heard sobbing over the phone and she hung up, casting a look towards Dave who was gripping his phone tightly to his chest, John was pale, his face ashen, and Jade’s face was hidden by her dark hair that was whipping in the wind, but it was clear that she was worried.

The hounds burst through the front door of the hospital in a shatter of glass, growling and roaring to make people move out of the way. Jade’s hound padded over to the shocked front desk and Jade dismounted, her hair a mess and her glasses askew, “Where’s Mr. Harley?!” They didn’t need any convincing, facing the sharp teeth. The lady pointed a trembling finger towards the hall and her voice quivered, “Second floor, D-down the hall, t-to your left. Room 413.” Jade set off down the hall at a run, her legs flying out from beneath her, the other kids practically at her heels. The hounds disappeared in wisps of smoke as soon as Jade stopped her magic from running. Jade threw open the door to see four very familiar faces. Jake, her brother stood a little to the side, clearly surprised, but there was grief evident in his eyes. Dirk stood next to him, holding a doll, slashed to ribbons, shades taken off in favor of showing his pain towards something. Roxy had been bawling next to Jane, already collapsed on the ground, but her crying had stopped abruptly to hiccups at Jade’s entrance. Jane had been silently sobbing, but now her face was turned towards the door, bright blue eyes wide open and tear streaks evident along her cheeks. There were four beds neatly lined up against the wall, but all of the occupants faces were covered by white sheets. John skidded around the corner of the door and froze, knowing all too well what had happened, and his brow furrowed and he closed his eyes, as if willing himself away from reality. Dave and Rose were close behind him, but they also froze at the sight of their sibling’s faces and the four white sheets covering the faces of their guardians. Rose covered her face with her hands and whispered silently, “No…” Dave bit the inside of his cheek harshly and walked inside the room, noted the look from his brother, and slowly clenched his fist at his side at the sight of a familiar broken doll hanging limply in Dirks arms. Cal’s empty blue eyes shone and the whispering of his gift to Dave echoed back, _something’s going to happen. Very, very soon._ And he’d been right.


	3. Salty rain that which falls from the eyes

= = >Lets turn the time back a little

Mr. Harley tore down the street in his car, looking through the rearview mirror to see his grand-daughter close the front door of the house. He hadn’t wanted to leave on her birthday especially, but there were urgent matters that had to be taken care of. Even more urgent, (he hated to admit this) than Jade’s birthday. He took out his phone and quickly dialed a number and pressed it to his ear. “Egbert?” he said into the phone when a smooth voice replied, “Harley, I see you’ve gotten the call as well.”

“Yes I did. Wait outside your house, I’m on my way.”

Mr. Egbert hung up and closed the door behind him, straightening his tie and hat to the bright sun light. In the distance he could see smoke rising from one of the Dersite Mountains and he removed the pipe from his mouth as he hurriedly walked towards the sidewalk. They’d better be on time.

Mr. Harley saw Mr. Egbert first, and stopped the car long enough for the other man to dive in through the window, tightly clutching his hat to his head and dark bangs slick from sweat as he’d jogged half of the way. As soon as he was in, Mr. Harley sharply turned the wheel and performed a U-turn, heading towards Derse. Mr. Egbert calmly situated himself into a comfortable position and called up Rose’s mom, “Hello Lalonde, ah. It seems you’ve gotten the call as well. Wait outside your house, but if we don’t come within a minute, based on how Mr. Harley is steering his vehicle, head on towards the area of distress. Call Strider while you’re at it. This seems quite serious.”

“On it.” Was the curt reply as the lady on the other end hung up. Mrs. Lalonde hung up the phone and stuffed it down her pocket, already setting down to a run, hardly caring to wait for the two men to arrive. If Strider had gotten the call at all, he would’ve already been on his way that was, if he even had his phone on him. She groaned and whipped out her phone again, dialing the other man’s number quickly and put it to her ear.

“’sup Lalonde. Are you working out? I can hear you running. Oh wait, isn’t it Rosie’s birthday today? Tell the gal I said hey.” was the casual reply when he picked up.

“I’m not exercising idiot,” she hissed into the phone, “besides, did you get the call?”

“Yup.” She didn’t even have to look to her side to see that he was running next to her. Instead she rolled her eyes and hung up, seeing from the corner of her eye that he’d already done so. They continued towards the destination of the smoke, neither of them speaking a word. Halfway there, Mr. Harley’s car came into view from behind them and screeched to a halt beside them. There was a little argument over seating, considering Bro’s teasing over Mrs. Lalonde sitting next to Mr. Egbert at the back which led to him sitting at the back next to an annoyed man smoking a black pipe and wearing a white fedora while Mrs. Lalonde sat in front, one leg crossed over the other as she carefully observed the rising smoke in front of them. As they got closer to the mountain, Mr. Harley was still showing no signs of stopping or even slowing down, that’s when it hit them. Mr. Egbert slowly brought a hand to his hat, bright blue eyes widening in shock and horror as the realization dawned on him, “Harley,” his voice was surprisingly calm, though it was slightly faster than normal, “There’s no road ahead. Are you- Oh damnit all.” Mr. Harley gave out a hearty laugh and shouted over the sound of the car going over rough gravel, “Buckle up chaps! It’s going to be a rough ride!” There were no complaints as the other adults scrambled for the seatbelts, tightly buckling themselves for the trip. Bro grit his teeth and Cal screamed obscenities as Bro clung to the doorway and the seat, seeing that Mr. Egbert was following suit, clenching the pipe down hard between his teeth as they went over the first bump. They all flew off their seats briefly before slamming down hard into the leather seats. Mr. Harley didn’t fail to floor the accelerator and laugh, the entire way.

Bro peeled the puppet from his ear and swatted his face, “Quit yer screamin’ Cal, I’m gonna go deaf.”

“Hell no. Hell no. I hate you Harley.” Cal kept repeating and shaking his head as Bro attempted to calm him.

Mr. Egbert kicked open the car door and dusted himself, a scowl on his face, “That’s why we don’t speed in forests Harley.” He said as he gestured to the front of the car, now a steaming, crumpled mess of metal and oil. Mrs. Lalonde stumbled out of the car and leaned against a tree to catch her breath. She rubbed her temples as Bro clambered out of the now broken window, as the door was jammed, Cal still whispering curses towards Mr. Harley, who was looking for the source of the smoke, “C’mon, we’ve got to find these kids quick, apparently one of their summoners was having his link being Burned.” The other adults froze and slowly turned, watching the mustached man search around the tree’s listening carefully. “Cal, can you detect any magic? Demon magic?” Bro said as he hurriedly turned to Cal. Cal’s eyes glittered darkly, and his mitted hand pointed towards the direction opposite of the smoke. His mouth clacked together, “They’re dead you know, those kids.”

Mr. Egbert turned sharply around, “What?” He walked over briskly and grabbed the doll by its shoulders before Bro could do anything and shook it harshly, “Where are they? When?” Cal cackled, and pointed his other hand in the direction of the smoke, “Over there. Dead, dead, dead.” He started chanting as Mr. Egbert dropped the doll back in Bro’s arms and ran off in the direction where Cal had pointed; Mrs. Lalonde and Mr. Harley close behind. Bro shook his head and let out a sigh, breaking into a run after the other three adults.

By the time they had arrived, it was already too late. All four boys were dead, having been stabbed in multiple places an innumerable number of times. Casey had been stabbed through the heart and gut, Crow had been decapitated, his wings in pieces around him, Jasper had been stabbed through the lungs and a long cut had been placed across his belly. PM had been slashed across the throat and impaled to a tree by his own sword through his chest, but the sword was already fading, returning to Skaia. It was clear that the boys had put up an incredible fight, there were scorch marks all over the slick grass, there were scratches all over the trees and some had been felled. A few chunks of earth had been thrown around due to numerous explosions and there were a great many black feathers scattered over the ground. There were the remnants of a taming circle having been set up, but it was destroyed. Jack Noir was nowhere to be seen.

Mrs. Lalonde covered her eyes and the three other men closed their eyes in empathy for the four children strewn about the forest floor like broken ragdolls. PM fell down with a thump as the sword finally returned to Skaia, reminding the adults what they were supposed to be doing. Slowly they went about and carefully picked up the boys, laying them down side by side. “So young…” Mrs. Lalonde murmured, stroking Casey’s bloodied face with her forefinger, “So young-““and so~ dead.” A voice from behind cut in. The adults gasped and whirled around, surprised. No one could usually sneek up on them so easily, even when they were grieving. It was Jack. Jack grinned from his perch on the tip of the evergreen tree like a demented angel atop a Christmas tree. He spread his wings out wider and the adults tensed, all of them dropping into defensive stances. Jack smiled, his grin growing impossibly wider; his sharp teeth glistened in the shadow of his face while his yellow eyes glowed, squatting in a feral position. “Hey there, assholes.”

He flapped his wings, slowly descending as he talked, his face pulled into one of mock pity, “Awww, you came too late didn’t you? They’re all dead, dead, dead.” He paused to giggle, “They fought soo hard, but,” his eyes glowed dangerously bright, “They were too weak.” He landed lightly, throwing pebbles and blades of grass into the air as his wings flapped hard. He suddenly doubled over, shaking, but it was from laughter, it echoed around the tree’s and Jack looked up, wiping a tar from his eye, “You should have seen their faces!” he chuckled, “They were so shocked and surprised! They only started fighting when I killed that one over there,” he drew his sword and pointed it to Crow and laughed again, “But they were too late.” He looked so alike to the dead boy behind them, it was hard to focus, he looked so much like a child, so much like PM; all skin and bones, lose shirt and pants, spiky hair that stuck up in all the wrong directions. The only difference was that he was completely dark, dark grey skin, black hair, dark grey clothing, black wings and yellow eyes. Jack noticed their hesitation and laughed, carelessly dropping his sword to his side, “Oh I see, I look like that boy over there don’t I? How ‘bout I-“he blurred and suddenly appeared in front of Mrs. Lalonde, his sword already in swinging motion, “-give you some motivation?” He swung and Mrs. Lalonde splayed her hand in front of her and Jack’s sword clinked against something, sending sparks flying. A tiny whistling noise caught his attention and he jerked backwards just as a black bullet shot past his head. He turned, growling and saw Mr. Harley holding out his hands in the shape of a gun, index and middle finger together and pointing at Jack. Jack snarled and turned towards him, readying his sword, but had to dodge again as Mr. Harley shot off twenty or more so rounds of bullets at him. As he dodged to the side, a faint glimmer caught his eye and he brought out his sword just in time to cut the string that was shot towards his neck with a metallic snap. “Hi there!” a cheerful voice said just as Jack turned to catch the blade that was aimed for his back. Cal smiled and flash stepped away, returning to Bro’s side, who was moving his fingers like a puppeteer, controlling Cal’s movements and making him faster. Just as Jack was about to turn on him, he reeled and clutched his forehead, feeling nauseated. He could faintly see a purplish mist hanging around, and it smelt just like…wine. He covered his mouth and flapped hard, trying to dispel the mist, but his wings were being restricted by something he couldn’t feel. He looked around wildly, then he saw Mr. Egbert moving his hands and swaying them, his smoking pipe trailing little wisps of smoke which collected into the vague shape of hands, which were currently restricting his wings and they _burned._ He could feel his feathers dropping off as the smoke slowly burned them, turning them to crisp. Jack roared and threw his sword at Mr. Egbert, whose eyes widened briefly in shock before Cal intercepted it, knocking it aside with a glowing blade from Skaia. Mr. Harley fired off another round of bullets, two of them hitting Jack in the chest and he hissed. “Regisword…” he whispered weakly, bleeding out and he held out his hand, “Come to me…” The sword flew to his hands, dragging Cal along with it, who was trying to hold it back. “Whoa!” he exclaimed at first as he flew through the air, long gangly limbs flying behind him. Jack grabbed his wooden head and wrenched the sword from his grip and grinned, looking half crazed from the lack of air and evil delight, “What have we got here?” he purred. He coughed violently and spewed blood, a fleck of it landed on Cal’s cheek. The adults froze and Bro frantically started moving his fingers and Cal’s hand balled into a fist and shot out, but Jack was faster, holding out his sword and bringing it down, cutting through the soft cotton and cloth. Cal groaned, “Oh my God, Bro!” Bro didn’t stop moving his fingers, twitching his ring finger up Cal’s other arm shot up, followed by his leg. Jack moved lightning fast and chopped off both limbs and Cal groaned again, “Damn, now I’m just a torso. Damn you Bro!” Jack’s eyes narrowed until only a chink of yellow shined out, “Playtimes over.” Cal sighed and there was a slight movement as his eyes flickered over to where Bro was standing, looking awfully concentrated, “Sorry Bro,” he started as Jack started crushing the wooden skull of the doll, “but I’m glad I served as a distraction.” Jack crushed the skull of the doll and let the wooden parts crumble to the ground, watching the pieces sift through his fingers and softly hit the ground. That’s when the strings pierced his body. Jack screamed as he felt the strings invade his muscles and bones, restricting his movement. Mr. Harley immediately resumed his shooting, the sound of gunfire echoing off the mountainside along with Jack’s screams of agony. Jack shook his head to clear the quickly thickening purple mist around him, trying unsuccessfully to flap his wings. Bro kept him still using the strings to control him like a marionette as Jack strained against them, trying to clench and unclench his fingers at least as he was forced to take bullet after bullet to the chest. Jack’s eyes glowed and a crack resounded loudly through the tree’s as all the strings in his body snapped simultaneously. A shockwave spread from him and knocked the adults back, throwing them off balance. The smoke and mist dissipated and Jack growled, wiping the stream of blood from his mouth. He shook his wings in an irritated manner, the loose feathers falling to the ground. “I fucking _hate_ all of you.” He hissed as the feathers slowly grew back, and he walked purposely towards Bro, who lay groaning. He knelt down and picked up the glowing sword, the surface of the scabbard slightly hissing against his skin. “You first motherfucker.” He gave a crazed smile and screeched, “Just like PM! Heh heheheheh! Ahahahahaha!” He stabbed downwards and Bro barely rolled out of the way with a wince, the sword only leaving a slight graze on his forearm. Jack gave a sudden jerk and he slowly turned around, seeing that Mr. Harley had shot him from behind. The winged demon slowly turned around, literally emitting a black aura around him from his intense hate and anger, “You,” he slowly pointed his black sword at him, “You, you, you,” he slowly pointed the sword to all of the groaning adults getting up, his face distorted into one of an insane persons, “are allllllll gonna die.”

“We’ll see about that, “Bro grunted and heaved up, snatching the sword stuck in the ground and burying it deep inside Jack’s back. The boy hardly seemed to notice and he spread his wings violently, throwing the man behind him a couple of meters back into a tree. There was an audible crack as his ribs broke and he slumped to the ground. Mr. Egbert shrouded the area in smoke, trying to deter Jack as the boy just stood there laughing to himself. It didn’t do anything. Mrs. Lalonde raised her hands to the sky, bringing down thick black rain that sizzled against Jack’s skin. It didn’t do anything. Mr. Harley used the smoke as cover and quickly ran to Bro’s side, checking him for any serious injuries. Bro groaned and tried to sit up, his hand slipping on the slick grass, “oww.” He managed as Mr. Harley pressed against his broken ribs. “Don’t move, the least you can do is move your arms.” Mr. Harley said harshly as he inspected the damage. The sounds of battle reached their ears as Jack attacked Mrs. Lalonde relentlessly, hitting against her glass barrier as Mr. Egbert made the smoke concentrate around Jack’s face, cutting off his air supply. But Jack was too far gone to notice that he was in pain anymore. Bro grunted and sat up –painfully- and stood shakily, “Don’t worry about me; we got a demon to kill Harley. It’d be a goddamn shame if we can’t.” Mr. Harley frowned, but he readied his hand and started shooting, carefully discerning the shapes in the smoke, the thin lean figure of Mrs. Lalonde that was slowly backing up, the still shape of Mr. Egbert as he manipulated the smoke, the large, shifting shape of Jack. That’s when the shape of Jack suddenly exploded and two tentacles ripped from his silhouette and snaked towards Mrs. Lalonde and tore through her. There was a scream as she fell. “Got you.” Jack smiled as the woman fell, clutching her abdomen. Mr. Egbert howled, “No!” and Jack laughed cruelly at his despair. “One down!” he screeched as the tentacles writhed hideously at his side. The smoke solidified around his wings and tugged, lightly at first as the rain died down, dropping down to a light drizzle before the last drops cleared the smoke, revealing the fallen form of Mrs. Lalonde, the crazed Jack as he stared at the sky, hardly taking notice of the situation of his wings, the determined figure of Mr. Egbert as he held his splayed hand towards Jack, anger evident on his face. Jack turned and stuck out his tongue, twisting his hand around to flick Mr. Egbert his middle finger, “One down. You’re next.” Mr. Egbert moved so fast that he was a blur, his arm swinging to the side sharply and the smoke tightened around Jack’s wings and _tore them right off._ Jack screamed and collapsed, blood exploding from his back as the wings fell to the ground with a wet thump beside him, the smoke disappearing as Mr. Egbert darted forwards, running to Mrs. Lalonde’s side. He knelt by her side and checked her for signs of life, but it was evident from the slump of his shoulders and the way his mouth tightened to a sharp line that she was gone. His back was facing Jack. Then Jack rose off the ground.

Mr. Harley shouted a warning but Bro was faster, intercepting Jack’s sword as it was aimed for Mr. Egbert’s undefended back. Mr. Harley started shooting Jack in the chest, side, head, heart, anywhere that was crippling. But it didn’t have any effect whatsoever on the demon as Jack pressed against Bro, whose injuries seemed to be taking its toll out on him. “Egbert!” Bro grunted out, “Snap out of it! We got a demon to kill! Wake- UP!” He was forced to use both his hands to stretch out the thin metallic string that prevented Jack from slicing him in half. But Mr. Egbert didn’t move. He dared a glance behind him and what he saw was Mr. Egbert, dead, a tentacle having been drilled through his back. “Too late,” Jack whispered leaning in close to Bro’s face, “much too late.” A tentacle whipped out faster than Bro could blink and smashed across his side, sending him flying again, to crash against another tree painfully. He slid to the ground with a groan. Jack slid the glowing sword out from himself with a tentacle and looked at it, smiling pleasantly. As if musing over the fact of what he was going to do with it. Then Mr. Harley barreled into him from behind, knocking the demon off balance. Jack hissed and whirled around, clawing, trying to get the man off his back. Mr. Harley put his fingers to Jack’s head and shot a bullet into it. Jack froze but it seemed to do no more than annoy the demon. Finally, Jack tore Mr. Harley off of his back with his tentacles, then pinning him to the tree, a tentacle through his chest. Mr. Harley slumped, becoming limp. “Stay there,” Jack growled. “Don’t worry,” Mr. Harley weakly murmured to himself, “I won’t be going anywhere.” Jack then moved so fast, that it was almost as if he’d simply twitched, throwing the glowing blade at Bro so fast that it was hardly seen. Until it imbedded itself In Bro’s chest. Bro coughed and hacked out a glob of blood before shuddering and going still. Jack turned around and faced Mr. Harley with a triumphant grin, which was until he came face to face with two fingers pointing at his throat. Mr. Harley had dragged himself along the tentacle that had impaled him, just to get close enough to shoot Jack. Mr. Harley laughed weakly, “Bang.” A shot fired off and sparked against Jack’s neck, destroying the collar that was just barely visible. Jack screamed and burst into flames. Mr. Harley collapsed on his stomach with a shout of pain. He looked around, taking in the forms of his dead comrades, the pile of ash in front of him, and he slowly rolled over onto his back, blood gushing from the wound in his chest. He slowly fished his phone out of his pocket and dialed three numbers. “Hello?” his voice was weak. “Yes, this is Sburb hospital, please state your emergency.” A woman’s voice answered the phone. Mr. Harley huffed a pained laugh, “I and my comrade’s need some assistance, we’re on the Dersite Mountains…“the phone dropped from his hand and he fainted. “Hello? Hello? Sir!”

The ambulance came as fast as they possibly could, but alas, it was too late. The forest floor lay in ruins, bodies strewn about haphazardly. The four boys were taken first, as was instructed by a weak Mr. Harley who barely gained enough consciousness for them to arrive. He was on the brink of death when they finally came to aid him and they rushed him to the hospital along with the other adults, but it was unfortunate that he was pronounced dead upon reaching the hospital. Their children were called to deal with the funeral rites as the four adults had no other relations besides the limited list of contacts found in their phones. It was too late to save any of them. Mrs. Lalonde died of excessive bleeding in the gut area, Mr. Egbert had a punctured lung and had suffocated due to blood flooding in his lung cavity, and Mr. Strider had four ribs broken and had been stabbed in the chest by a sword, (though the sword was nowhere to be found), Mr. Harley had died from blood loss and more than half of his lungs had been missing. All four had died before any treatment could be applied to them.

***

The only warning the people in the hospital got was the slight gust of wind that creeped through the busy hallways. Then everything exploded. John screamed as his powers unleashed and ripped from his body in sweeping gusts of wind, as powerful as a gale. The sheets flapped and the windows cracked and exploded, blowing out wards. John had just created a large scale whirlwind in the middle of a hospital, in a closed space. The people in the room braced themselves against the wind, but were slowly being pushed back by the strong winds. There was only a circle of calm air where John and his friends were as John cried his heart out, on his knees. Dave was in a world of his own, looking down and clenching his fists as the air around him shimmered and distorted, showing how frayed his control was. Broken pieces of gears rolled lazily around him, sometimes becoming older or becoming brand new as they buzzed and warped like grainy images on a screen. Rose’s shadow grew longer and wrapped around her body as she covered her eyes and wept bitterly, wisps of black trailing off her skin. Jade just howled her grief sky wards as enchantment circle sprung around her, briefly spinning before fizzling out like broken lights.“John! Stop!” Jane cried out as the wind picked up and grew heavier by the second; easily pushing the other four figures towards the broken windows at the far end. The wind suddenly died down, whipped around the beds affectionately once, and then dropped. The gears floating around Dave burst into flame and disappeared, Roses shadow dispersing into tendrils of darkness, The magic circle surrounding Jade disappeared with soft sighs, like a whisper of breath. There was a silence as everything calmed down, not a word was said, not a single breath, there was only silence. Then the four kids collapsed in dead faint, their powers having taken too much toll on them. John simply slumped to the ground next to Jade and Jade simply passed out, falling over into the gentle arms of her brother, who had rushed to her side. Rose collapsed to the ground on her knees and fell to her side while Dave slumped against the wall and slowly slid to the ground. Dirk breathed out and said in a matter of fact voice, “Well, that happened.” Jake cradled Jade’s head in his arms, “It did. Please,” he turned to the disheveled nurse in the corner of the room, “they need rest and medical attention. Could you call some doctors?” Jane shook her head as she moved a bang out of John’s eyes, “They just need rest.” A magic circle appeared over the kids heads and plants wrapped around their bodies briefly before the disappeared and they sighed in their sleep, looking more peaceful. Roxy lifted Rose into her arms and looked at the nurse who was recollecting herself but seeming to be failing, “We’ll take care of the funeral services- “ her voice broke, “These four can sit this out. They just need to rest.”

***

Rose was the first to wake up. She just opened her eyes and stared up at the ceiling for a while, taking deep breaths to calm herself down. But tears still pricked at her eyes when she remembered the last night she saw her mother. A movement caught her eye and she turned to her left, seeing Dave covering his eyes with his arm, hiding his face. He took a shuddering breath –he was obviously crying- and he forced himself to laugh, “Damn, it’s really bright in this room ain’t it? I wish- I wish they’d just close the god damn windows.” John let out a sigh from their right that ended in a cough. Then he turned over and buried his face in his pillow. His voice was muffled, “Sorry guys.” Jade’s voice was quiet in the empty room, “We were in the eye of the storm John. There’s nothing to apologize about.” Dave muttered something near the window that sounded something like a joke, and John snorted out a laugh that ended with a sob. “You are not making a joke right now Dave…not right now.” Jade began to sniff but she sat up and fisted her eyes, “Not crying, not crying…” Rose sat up as well and stared at her knees, a dead expression on her face, “We might as well go. Now that we’re awake.”

“Yeah.” John mumbled from the pillow and got up, wiping his eyes and nose. He swung his legs off the side of the bed, but he just sat, collecting himself. He took a deep breath and let it out. “Dave?” He looked up from his hands and they all turned to Dave who still had his arm crossed over his face. He took a deep breath as well then let it out. Then he took another and up. “Yeah. I’m up. Let’s go.” He picked up his shades from the table and jammed them on his face without turning to the rest of the kids. Then he stood as the rest of the kids got up. There was a small silence between them before John said, “We’ll go to our respective lands to attend the- the funerals,” he clenched his teeth, “I’m sure we all just want to be alone right now.” There was slight nodding and they filed out the door, checked in with the registration and carefully stepped through the broken doors. Jade summoned her wolves again (they wisely kept silent) and she offered John a ride to Prospit with her. John shook his head and gave her a small smile. “It’s okay. I’ll walk.” The other wolves dissipated into shadow as she said, “Suit yourself,” she faced Dave and Rose who were standing amid the sunlight, waiting, “Bye Rose. Bye Dave. See you guys sometime.” Then she rode off, the wind whipping her hair back. John faced the two Dersite children standing awkwardly amidst the concrete and he raised his hand in a weak salute and trudged off towards Prospit, scraping his boots against the ground. Dave and Rose returned the gesture half-heartedly and both turned to go to their own homes.

“Happy Birthday son, you’re finally sixteen!” Mr. Egbert called out cheerfully as he opened the door to John’s room, cake in hand as he smoked his ever present pipe. John looked up from his computer screen, a skeptical look on his face, “Really Dad? What do you mean by ‘finally’? Were you planning on kicking me out?” he broke out into a grin at the end though, unable to keep the look of skeptism off his face, “Just kidding, thanks Dad.” He shut off his computer and walked over to his Dad and embraced him tightly, even though he was much too old for a hug, but it was his birthday, so nobody cared. His dad laughed and hugged John back with his free arm, holding the cake a little out of the way so it wouldn’t accidentally tip over and fall. “Come on, let’s go eat it at the table, we can’t really eat it here.” John grinned slyly and wrapped his body around his dad’s lower half, “Nope. Either we eat it here or you’re hopping to the dinner table.” His dad laughed and lowered the cake threateningly close to John’s face, “What’s stopping me from doing this?” he said as he waved the cake closely to John’s face and John fake pouted, pushing out his bottom lip and making puppy eyes at his dad, “Because it’s my birthday?” Mr. Egbert let out another hearty laugh and set the cake down on the floor and John scrambled off his father’s legs to sit on the ground and looked up at him hopefully, “Will Jane be here?” as his dad slowly sat down cross legged on the carpeted floor with a grunt, “She called a little earlier, saying she couldn’t come. And that some pressing matters called her elsewhere.” John made a face and Mr. Egbert sighed as he sat down, magically producing candles from his pocket and his lighter and he proceeded to stick the candles into the cake decorated with a blue wave and little dunes of whipped cream bordering the edges of the cake. As he lit the candles one by one with his lighter, John asked the most obvious question, “Hey Dad, where’s the knife?” His dad smiled as he lit the last one and moved to turn off the lights, “Who needs a knife John?” and a small tendril of smoke snaked from his pipe and brushed against Johns cheek, “When we have a portable knife right here?” John wrinkled his nose, “The cake will taste like smoke though.” His dad snorted and sat down again, gesturing towards John and the brightly flickering candles, “Make a wish John.” John leaned in and softly blew; creating a small gust of wind that ruffled his Dad’s hair and made a wish. That’s when his father’s phone rang, a chipper tune consisting of someone whistling ‘Windy Days’, the sound that John later came to fear and dread.

 

“Happy birthday Rose!” Mrs. Lalonde called out, appearing behind Rose and giving her a sloppy hug. Rose smiled and shut down her computer before turning around and returning the hug, “Thank you mother.” Her mom drew away, obviously upset as she held her daughter at arm’s length, “What will it take for you to just call me ‘mom’ or ‘mommy’ Rosie? I love you sooo much.” Then she leaned in and gave Rose a peck on the forehead and Rose happily leaned into it, closing her eyes and breathing in the bittersweet scent of the smell of wine that lingered on her mother’s clothes. “It would take the world mother.” Rose replied smiling as she tapped her forehead against her mother’s chest and listened to the soft _thump thump thump_ of her heart as it beat against her ribcage. Her mother leaned away and picked her up and Rose protested, but it was one of those times when her mother got exceptionally affectionate, so it didn’t matter. It didn’t matter that her mother was carrying her to the kitchen, all that mattered was that she was with her mother, together and laughing with her. Something they hadn’t done in a long, long time. Her mother set her down on the table and placed another chaste kiss on her forehead before moving off to the cupboards to grab two wine glasses and Rose’s cake. The cake was decorated like Rose’s namesake- with multiple pink and purple roses with green whipped cream serving as leaves and vines, wrapping around the pink cursive lettering that spelt out ‘Happy Birthday Rose Lalonde!’ Rose smiled and stuck in the candles that were hanging by the side of the cake dish in a small plastic bag, “Is Roxy coming home?” Her mother lit the candles one by one and turned off the lights, “Unfortunately not, she had a job to do that was urgent.” There was only the flickering glow of the candles as the warm yellow light reflected off of both faces captured in warm smiles. Then her mother gasped loudly, putting a hand to her mouth exclaiming “How could I have forgotten?” She gestured towards the empty wine glasses and they started to fill with red liquid as though they were being poured by an invisible wine bottle. She handed one full glass to Rose and Rose raised an eyebrow and took an experimental sniff, it smelt slightly fruity and a little like flowers, sweet, without the usual tang of bitterness. “Don’t worry, it isn’t poisoned.” Came her mother’s carefree voice from the other side of the table as she raised her glass in toast, lazily smiling as she leaned against her other arm against the table. Rose held out her glass, “Toast.”

“Happy Birthday Rosie.”

At the precise moment they clinked glasses together, her mother’s phone rang, an upbeat tune featuring the instrumental for the song ‘Light’s’ and her mother held it to her ear after a flicker of recognition crossed her face from the all too familiar song, “Hello? Lalonde residence.”

 

“Happy Birthday Jade!” Jade’s grandfather said as he walked in through the doorway with long confident strides. “How’s my little girl?” He lifted her up from her chair and she squealed when he swung her around, spinning her in circles around the room until she protested, laughing out loud, “Grandpa! I’m not little anymore!” Mr. Harley paused in mid swing and mumbled something that sounded like “Oh right.” Then he dropped her and she screamed as the ground rushed up to meet her but her fall was stopped by her grandpa swooping in and scooping her from her fall, and swinging her around in exaggerated manner in princess style. When he stopped swinging, he cradled her to his chest and kissed her forehead affectionately, “You will always be my little girl Jade.” She giggled and hugged him back, “Jake always says that to me to.”

Her grandfather feigned a look of shock, “What! Am I not the only grandfather in this house?!”

Jade laughed breezily but she didn’t answer. Both her brother and her grandfather posed as fatherly figures to her, always protecting her and giving her as much love as possible. “Come on,” her grandpa’s words interrupted her thoughts, “Let’s go get that cake Jade!” She let her grandfather carry her to the kitchen and all the time she was smiling widely, it was her sixteenth birthday and she was pretty sure that everyone else was having their birthdays at the same time, today was the day that everyone was turning sixteen. He plopped her on the table and reveled the cake to have been hiding underneath the table then he turned away and said, with a mysterious smile that he was going to go grab something then he stalked off and Jade watched him leave, slightly puzzled at what he was going to get and as she was sitting and waiting, her grandpa suddenly charged from the opposite room and held out his fingers in the shape of a pistol and pointed it at Jade’s head and said, “Bang.” Jade smiled and showed that she was holding up a similar hand position, except with one finger that was pointing towards his neck. “Bang.” She imitated and her grandfather laughed, “’Atta girl.” Then he walked over to the cake, decorated with a green pinwheel, candles decorating the cake’s surface and burning brightly.Once they sat down, Jade stared at the cake and a sad look crossed her face, “Jake won’t be here, huh?”Her Grandpa’s face darkened, “It must’ve been something serious to have him called away. Or it was his… extremely affectionate friend.”

“Never mind!” Jade said brightly, sitting straighter and pushing her bangs out of her face, “What present have you gotten for me Grandpa?” Jade’s Grandpa smiled and said, “Secret. Now make a wish Jade.” She leaned in and blew out the candles, making the room darken, and then her Grandfather’s phone began to ring loudly. He fumbled for it as he turned on the light’s and put it to his ear, “Hello?” Jade waited patiently at the table, watching her Grandfather’s face drop in pity as something was said over the phone and he said, “I understand, I’ll be coming over immediately.” He hung up and looked at Jade sadly, “I’m sorry Jade… But, something’s come up at work.” Jade smiled, “It’s okay Grandpa! Go do your job! It’s important right?” He started to say something but Jade pushed him to the doorway and jammed his hat on his head, “Good luck Grandpa! Come back soon!” she stood at the doorway and waved, smiling, and he looked at her uncertainly, “Are you sure Jade?” Jade nodded and waved goodbye as he straightened his hat. He looked back at her with something bridging on confusion and uncertainty, but he went into his car and started the engine. “I’ll come back home soon Jade!” he called out the window as he reversed in the driveway. Then he drove off, heading towards the Dersite mountains. Jade’s smile dropped as well as her wave and she walked back inside, and she stared at the empty kitchen, the blown out candles and the empty chairs. Then she buried her face in her hands and began to cry.

 

“Hey lil man, whaddya want for dinner? Take out or delivery?” Bro popped his head in through the door of Dave’s room at an awkward angle, suggesting that he was still sitting on his chair. A second head popped around the corner of the door frame, a couple of inches above Bro’s head and clacked its wooden mouth together as a slightly high pitched voice exited its mouth in a stage whisper, “I’d prefer take out.” Dave closed his computer screen and thought about it, “Take out.” He confirmed with a nod and got off his chair, carefully stepping over the wires that decorated his bedroom floor, he needed to put a carpet over them, it was a common safety hazard to have one too many wires hanging about. Bro nodded and said, “Right, get yer shades and we’ll be ready to go.” Then he pushed off from the doorframe and Dave could hear the clattering of the wheels as he rolled, supposedly towards his desk. The puppet head stayed around the corner, but it was lower this time, about four feet off the floor. Dave looked down at the possessed puppet and raised his hand in greeting, “Sup lil Cal?” Cal raised a gloved hand back in greeting and clacked his mouth together again and looking down, “How you are even supposed to answer greetings like that, I don’t know.”

“You’ve been living with the Strider’s for at least two generations, deal with it,” was Dave’s curt reply as he rummaged around his drawer for a spare pair of sunglasses. Cal had been around ever since Bro had been nineteen, Dirk had been three and Dave was one. Cal wasn’t the normal type of summon and come type of demons, he had actually once been a very powerful demon that had been on the rampage for a couple of weeks, Bro had gone there to subdue him. And subdue him he did, so much so that Cal had been forced to take refuge in the puppet that Bro always made a point to carry around to escape death. The least Cal could do from then on was talk and move slowly around with his glassy blue eyes and red puppet mouth. Since Cal wasn’t a summoned demon, he was friendly with anyone and everyone, but he did hold some sort of respect for Bro as Bro had been forced to ‘collar’ him in case he decided mutiny, so now Cal always had a gold chain around his neck with a medallion attached. He was four feet tall with long gangly limbs covered in orange felt material, a collared shirt and a black bow tie that was covered by a large blue shirt with white letterings spelling out ‘CAL’ in large capital letters. His hands were covered with white mitts and he was always wearing white and red sneakers. Dave was okay with him, as long as the puppet didn’t try to creep him out, which it did on daily basis. He fished out a pair of shades and fixed them to the bridge of his nose, Cal still watching him intently from the doorway, and he called out, “I’m ready to go.” And he walked out the door, resisting the urge to kick Cal on the way out because he was just _staring_ at him, not moving except for following him with his eyes. Instead he scooped Cal up and he flailed, “I can walk, idiot!” Dave rolled his eyes and tossed him at Bro, who caught the puppet without flinching and draped the puppet over his back, “Let’s go.”

By the time they were trudging back home, it was somewhat late afternoon, but the street lamps were already flickering on due to the thick clouds over the Dersian sky, creating a somewhat darkness over the town when Bro turned to Dave, who was just walking beside him, hands in pockets and full of spaghetti from the nearest shop. “Hey Dave, can you hold Cal fer a sec?” Cal snorted but allowed himself to be carried by Dave as he wasn’t allowed to walk around in the streets. They continued walking while Bro searched his pockets for something until he swore, “Damn, must’ve dropped it.” Dave stopped walking and raised an eyebrow above his shades in a questioning manner. Bro sighed and said with the straightest face, “Your birthday present, I dropped it.”

Cal straightened and Dave could almost hear the rapid, innocent blinking in his voice, “Well damn. What a bummer.” He patted Dave’s hair, “It’s okay kid, at least I’ve still got a present for you.” Then he leaned down close to Dave’s ear and whispered, “Here’s a word of warning Dave: Something’s gonna happen. Very, very soon.” Then he moved away as though he’d never said anything. Bro seemed to be thinking hard, then he looked up, confidence in his eyes. “I think I can recreate it for you.” He held out his hands and colourful strings started winding out of his palms, a mixture of reds and whites and black and yellows started winding together tightly forming a small figure. “If you’re giving me another smuppet like last time-“ Dave started but stopped when he saw what the colourful yarn was forming. It was a miniature figurine of him, aviator shades, blonde hair and god tier uniform. The last yellows finished winding at the top, forming the last of his hair and Bro tossed it at him, a smirk on his face as Dave caught it clumsily, still awed at his present. “Happy birthday squirt.”

“Happy b-day Dave!” Cal chimed in, wrapping his arms around Dave’s neck and swinging his legs wildly. Then Bro’s phone started ringing, it was an ordinary ringing, the familiar beeping that woke Dave up for school, but it filled Dave with dread when Bro picked it up, “Hello?” _Something’s going to happen. Very, very soon._

It was a normal day when the kids got the call, a perfectly normal day. The sun had been shining cheerfully over Can Town, not a single cloud in the sky as Rose, Jade, John and Dave sat together under a tree, simply talking about the mysterious disappearance of their guardians the day prior. They hadn’t returned. Not that it mattered, they had complete faith in them, they were all powerful Casters and Summoners, and besides, it wasn’t unnatural for them to disappear. That was until they got the phone call. Jade was the first to get it, a little ring from her phone. She cut her conversation with Rose short and picked up the phone, it was Jake.

“Hello? Jake? Where were you? We spent my birthday without you!”

But his voice didn’t have its usual cheerfulness in it, it was urgent, “Jade, You have to get to the hospital right now, it’s… It’s Grandpa. He’s-”

Jade froze, but she didn’t waste any time, she hung up quickly, ignoring the puzzled looks from her friends and she looked at them, worried, “Guys, I- I need to go to the hospital, it’s my Grandpa he-“

“We’ll come. Summon your fastest Hounds.” Was Rose’s reply, realization dawning on her face faster than the other’s. Jade immediately pounded the ground, summoning forth a large green circle; easily three feet in radius and four black hounds clawed their way out of the ground, yellow sclera glinting darkly under the afternoon sun. They stood majestically, as large as grown grizzly bears, shaking the dirt out of their black fur and nuzzling Jade’s toes, but they stopped when they sensed her worry. “We will take thee wherever thee wishes. Speak the destination mistress.” The largest hound growled into her ear, tickling her cheek with its whiskers. She whispered the destination and the request of carrying her friends along. The hound nodded and they climbed onto their backs and shot off in the direction of the hospital, leaping over buildings and awestruck students. It was about halfway there when John got the call, It was from Jane, his sister, “John, get to the hospital now, its Dad.” Her voice was deadly serious and had urgency in it and John hung up with a worried look on his face, Dave caught the glance and his mouth went into a grim line. If John’s dad was… then it was probable that Bro… No! He shook it out of his head and concentrated on gripping the dark fur below him tightly in his fists. His hopes died when he got the call next. It was Dirk. And Dirk never called, he only ever texted. Dave flicked his phone open, trying to hide the worrying frown spreading across his brows behind his shades. “Dave, you probably already got the call, but Bro’s… hurt.” The last word was said with disbelief and pain, Bro had never been hurt before. Rose didn’t even have to wait for her phone to ring before she was turning it on and clicking the ‘accept call’ button. It was Roxy, she didn’t even sound drunk, her tone sober and serious, “Rose, its Mom, she’s – she’s hurt and I – oh Gog, just get to the hospital Rosie, I-“ She could be heard sobbing over the phone and she hung up, casting a look towards Dave who was gripping his phone tightly to his chest, John was pale, his face ashen, and Jade’s face was hidden by her dark hair that was whipping in the wind, but it was clear that she was worried.

The hounds burst through the front door of the hospital in a shatter of glass, growling and roaring to make people move out of the way. Jade’s hound padded over to the shocked front desk and Jade dismounted, her hair a mess and her glasses askew, “Where’s Mr. Harley?!” They didn’t need any convincing, facing the sharp teeth. The lady pointed a trembling finger towards the hall and her voice quivered, “Second floor, D-down the hall, t-to your left. Room 413.” Jade set off down the hall at a run, her legs flying out from beneath her, the other kids practically at her heels. The hounds disappeared in wisps of smoke as soon as Jade stopped her magic from running. Jade threw open the door to see four very familiar faces. Jake, her brother stood a little to the side, clearly surprised, but there was grief evident in his eyes. Dirk stood next to him, holding a doll, slashed to ribbons, shades taken off in favor of showing his pain towards something. Roxy had been bawling next to Jane, already collapsed on the ground, but her crying had stopped abruptly to hiccups at Jade’s entrance. Jane had been silently sobbing, but now her face was turned towards the door, bright blue eyes wide open and tear streaks evident along her cheeks. There were four beds neatly lined up against the wall, but all of the occupants faces were covered by white sheets. John skidded around the corner of the door and froze, knowing all too well what had happened, and his brow furrowed and he closed his eyes, as if willing himself away from reality. Dave and Rose were close behind him, but they also froze at the sight of their sibling’s faces and the four white sheets covering the faces of their guardians. Rose covered her face with her hands and whispered silently, “No…” Dave bit the inside of his cheek harshly and walked inside the room, noted the look from his brother, and slowly clenched his fist at his side at the sight of a familiar broken doll hanging limply in Dirks arms. Cal’s empty blue eyes shone and the whispering of his gift to Dave echoed back, _something’s going to happen. Very, very soon._ And he’d been right.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> God damn, you guys, thanks for sticking around this long for this story, Thank you so much. The writing isn't even that good. If you're reading this, thank you, you turn my heart to jelly, literally soft pudding that jiggles with all the feels you've overwhelmed me with.
> 
> G.L.U.B!

**Author's Note:**

> Oh, Death.  
> Glad you read through the horrendous grammar and story line this far peeps. Love you guys.
> 
> Check out my tumblr for updates and stories I'm working on: clicksandspaces.tumblr.com
> 
> G.L.U.B!  
> Great, Love U, Bye!


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